FBI questions University personnel to find possible sources of anthrax

As part of the investigation into the recent anthrax mailings — a national search that has focused on the greater Trenton area — officials from the FBI have questioned molecular biologists at Princeton.

A spokeswoman for the FBI explained that agents have been visiting many laboratories in the Trenton area as part of their investigation.

In Princeton itself, both BASF Agro-Research and Bristol-Myers Squibb operate research facilities. Also nearby are Rider University in Lawrenceville, the College of New Jersey in Ewing, a Johnson & Johnson lab in New Brunswick and the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark.

Professor Thomas Shenk, the chairman of the University's molecular biology department, said there is no anthrax bacteria stored on campus. He said that unless a research group was actively working on the bacterium, it would not be present on campus. "No one in all of the years I've been here has ever worked on it," he explained.

Shenk said he is not worried about the possibility that someone could use University facilities to manufacture anthrax spores. He explained that though the molecular biology department is large, it is structured in small, close-knit teams that would make it difficult to conceal any illicit activity.

"People in these groups know each other, and it would be awfully hard for someone to do something like that without someone knowing about it," Shenk explained.

Lauren Robinson-Brown '85, the University's director of communications and a member of the Emergency Preparedness Task Force, said the administration has increased security at University labs.

A member of the molecular biology faculty, who asked not to be named, said that it would not be possible for someone to make anthrax at Princeton without infecting themselves or others.

"In order to not infect yourself you'd have to be vaccinated, or you need a special P3 facility . . . It's like an airtight room under vacuum so nothing gets out. You wear special clothes. There's not one of those here," the faculty member said.

Shenk explained that even if an individual were able to manufacture the bacteria without becoming ill because he or she was vaccinated or had access to antibiotics, the highly aerosolized spores would likely attach themselves to surfaces around the lab and make others sick.

The faculty member explained that researchers are not able to order samples of anthrax from germ banks unless their labs are equipped to handle it safely. "We don't have a P3 facility so we could not get it here. You have to jump through some hoops to get it because it's tightly controlled. It used to be easier but it's not anymore, which is good."

The faculty member said the FBI had been asking basic questions about the anthrax bacteria and the facilities which would be needed to produce it. "The FBI is not made of molecular biologists, so they just came here to learn."

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Another theory investigators have considered is that someone might have set up their own anthrax-making lab, using equipment stolen from an area lab.

"To my knowledge, we are missing nothing," said Dolores Jackson, who manages the facilities of the molecular biology department.

Professor Shenk said he did not believe the department had the equipment that would be needed to make the type of anthrax which has been causing alarm across the country.

"My understanding is that there's indications that this was processed in a very special way to aerosolize it," Shenk said, adding, "We don't have that sort of a mill at Princeton."